Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's A Miracle, The Canucks Are Almost Fully Healthy

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they preview tonight's Canucks road matchup versus the Jets (6:00), plus they talk the latest NHL news and notes with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:50).  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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to you. Good morning. Regular Zach, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can know with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices

on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Footwear and Orthotics working together with you and Step. We got a big show ahead on a Tuesday. It is a Canucks game day. The finale of a five game road swing tonight, Tuesday night in Winnipeg.

Five o'clock puck drop. I'll get to all the information on that one in a bit as we run through the guest list. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Our regular Tuesday insider, Greg Wyshinski from ESPN is going to join us. 13 games across the National Hockey League tonight. We'll dive into all the news league wide with Greg at 630. Seven o'clock Ray Ferraro is going to join the program. As mentioned, Canoxi in action tonight in Winnipeg. Five o'clock start time. Ray also worked the Bruins Panthers game over the weekend.

So we should ask him if he saw evidence of the Brad Marshawn, David Postronach rift, because we're ripping the room apart in Boston. We'll ask Ray about that. We're just, we're just going to run with that, right? We're going to completely ignore Brad Marshawn's, uh, rejection of that report.

I like to think of it that we're just trying to validate what he said. So we're going to ask Ray like, this is not happening, right? You didn't see any signs of this rift that's ripping the Bruins apart. And if Ray says he didn't see anything we'll say well you're in on it then. Obviously you weren't paying attention. It's pretty obvious. That's exactly what the guy who saw stuff would say. 730 Jim Toth is going to join the program. One of our favorite guests out of Winnipeg, Winnipeg CJOB 680, a host of the Jim Toth show. We'll talk to him about a very, very talented opponent

that the Vancouver Canucks are going to face tonight in Winnipeg. The Jets are a cool 16, four, and three in Winnipeg. This year it's going to be a tall order for the Canucks to get points out of tonight. We will see what the Jets are bringing to the table with Jim Toth at 7 30 this morning right here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Finally at eight o'clock just to round out our Canucks jets preview, the man on the call for your Vancouver Canucks tonight, Brendan Batchelor is going to join us at 8 AM. So here's the rundown for everything you've got on Sportsnet 650 today, leading up to batches call from 12 to two. It's Canucks talk from three to four. It's Canucks central four to five. Canucks pregame show. And then at five o'clock batch and ran deep take over for the call at tonight's game post game show runs all the way through to nine o'clock tonight. So this truly is your home in the Vancouver Canucks sports net six 50.

Speaking of sports net six 50, we once again today are giving away a pair of tickets and a $50 gift card to join us. Not me and Bruff, but the rest of Sportsnet 650 at the big football game at the Clayton Public House on Sunday, February the 9th. We're going to do, we're going to expedite the process a little bit. Caller number 3, 123, this morning at 8.15am is going to win a pair of tickets and a $50 gift card to the Clayton Public House the number 604 280 06 50 that number again 604 280 06 50 the Clayton Public House good food good people good times okay we got a lot to get into on the show so without further ado Zack let's tell everybody what happened Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how messy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened?

What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training visit them online at bccsa.ca The Vancouver Canucks a sight for sore eyes of practice yesterday in Winnipeg Defenseman Philip Horonick rejoined the team Went through his paces at practice and is a game time decision Jason for tonight's game five o'clock puck drop in Winnipeg I guess I'm I was wrong yesterday I I said, you know, there's reports of him coming back, but, you know, I, this was obviously before he'd practice, but, uh, I

thought he would take a few more practices before he'd be back in the lineup, uh, right away. Uh, but I guess he was practicing, I didn't know this, he was practicing with a no contact jersey in Abbotsford on the conditioning loan. And I guess his return is in line with the six to eight weeks he was supposed to miss from early

December. Um, obviously they felt he was close enough since he flew all the way to Winnipeg for the final practice of the road trip. So it's good as long as he's not being rushed back into the lineup and he's ready to roll. Let's see what he's got because the Canucks have dearly missed Philip Horonik. I think they've done valiantly to hang on and not completely collapse, especially

with all the other injuries that have cropped up along the way. Presumably Guillaume Brizba will come out of the lineup to make way for Hronik. We'll see if Hughes and him are reunited. I assume they will be, although I do think Hughes did okay without Hronik. We're still talking about MVP Hughes and marveling at how well he was playing without his regular D partner. So maybe at some point it's worth looking at some other pairings. I'm not sure if I'm mentally ready to see Myers and Sousi again tonight, but that could be a possibility.

And I guess the other news is that Brandstrom cleared waivers. Yeah. So he's still with us guys. He's still with us. Just us being adjacent, us adjacent, because he's going to be joining the Abbotsford Canucks in short order here. So are you surprised by how quickly the Horonic return happened or did I just misread things because it went down to Abbotsford on a conditioning loan?

I just thought maybe it would take longer to ramp up because we've seen so many Canucks and it's kind of like, are they ready yet? I don't know if they're ready yet. So when the conditioning loan was announced, Tocket spoke to the media and said that, you know, Heronica had been skating pretty hard in the aforementioned non-contact jersey. And that it sounded as though the conditioning stint was really just to get him a couple extra practices with, because he wasn't gonna be able to practice with the Canucks,

just get him through his paces. So it doesn't really surprise me because it is within that six-day window, the week window. The other thing that, you know, I kind of looked at the schedule and this is a big game for the Canucks tonight. This is the class of the Western Conference right now.

This is a Winnipeg Jets team and we'll talk about them a fair bit on today's show with Jim Toeth and we can get into it as well. They're tied for first overall in the NHL on 61 points. They've got top three in goals for, top three in goals against. I think they've got the best power play in the NHL on 61 points. Um, they've got top three in goals for top three and goals against. I think they've got the best power play in the NHL. Like this is a very loaded and stacked team. I don't think that you would rush Philip Horonik back for like a quote unquote measuring stick game, but I will say this, the Cucks are going to throw

as close to their most loaded uppercut this season as they have if Philip Horonik returns to the lineup tonight because outside of Dakota Joshua, this is your team. This is what the Canucks ideally wanted to ice from game one of the regular season, if not for all these injuries and all these hiccups and all these little fires that have been burning throughout the season.

This is as close to the locked and loaded. This is what our ideal lineup would look like. And I don't think it's. Pre-trade deadline. Pre-trade deadline. Yeah. But you have to acknowledge that. Pre-trade deadline.

I would go all the way back to when they signed DeBrusk and Heinen and Kiefer-Sherwood on July 1. Everyone was kind of penciling this to be what the lineup would look like. A healthy Demko back in the mix. All your forwards rolling. And now finally, your defense as close to as constructed on July 1 with the guys that are going to be in, this is it.

I, again, I'm not saying that they're loading up for a January 14th matchup against the Winnipeg Jets. Well, they're out of the playoffs now. They're currently out of a playoff position because Calgary used its game in hand. To beat the Chicago Blackhawks, which isn't particularly difficult, but the Flames beat the Blackhawks five to two. So Calgary and Vancouver have each played 42 games, 40 games left for each of those teams.

Calgary has 49 points. The Canucks have 48. points, the Canucks have 48. Um, is it going to be a two horse race between Calgary and Vancouver for the second wild card spot? What other scenarios could we envision? Because I'd be surprised if the Canucks catch the top four teams in the central division. That would be Winnipeg, who we're going to see tonight.

Minnesota, Dallas, Dallas is on fire right now. Dallas plays Toronto tonight. And then you've got Colorado currently in the first wild card spot and they're five points up on the Canucks. Now Colorado has been a little bit, uh, inconsistent this year, but there's seven, two, and one in their last 10.

They're probably going to be okay. And then I think the Canucks would be hard pressed to pass Vegas, Edmonton or LA in the Pacific division. LA is in the third place right now. They're only five points up on the Canucks. So maybe the Canucks could catch them, but they're playing pretty well right now. And if you look at the goal differential of all those teams, they're pretty superior to the Canucks.

Now granted, you know, Drantz does have that sleeping giant theory. So maybe the Canucks could get red hot at some point in the second half. But right now to me, it looks like it's going to be between Calgary and Vancouver for that second wild card spot. And none looks like it's going to be between Calgary and Vancouver for that second wild card spot.

And none of the teams below them look particularly worrying. Now there's always a chance that a team like St. Louis or Utah gets hot, but Anaheim, Seattle, Nashville, San Jose, Chicago, those are the only other teams to me. Utah's really hit the skids lately. They have two wins in their last 10. Maybe St. Louis, the connects are gonna see St. Louis. I was looking at the flame schedule. They have two games in St. Louis in a row.

I wonder if that's weird. Is that, does anyone know what's going on with that? I don't know the inner don't know the inner. That's not like rescheduling thing. Is it? No, cuz well, I'm not mistaken. They made up the Kings game, right? That was what? Well, and a game was the postponed one from the week due to the wildfires. I'm not mistaken Wow, I don't but I but I'm not a hundred percent certain why they're playing two games in a row in st Louis I do know this to get back to your original question mistaken. Well, I don't, but I, but I'm not a hundred percent certain why they're playing two games in a row in St. Louis. Uh, I do know this to get back to your original question. Um,

right now I would say that the West is not shaping up to be anywhere close to the meat grinder that the Eastern Conference playoff chase is going to be. And I would have to talk myself into St. Louis and Utah being in that mix. If it came down to Calgary and Vancouver for that last wild card spot. And again, we're not ruling out the fact that anyone could get on a heater and drastically turn this thing around. Five, Connexor five points out of third spot in the division. Granted, the Kings have a game in hand.

So there's still some wiggle room there. But the thing with those three teams in the Pacific right now and why it's gonna be tough to displace them is they haven't really shown Any signs of wobble all year if you go look at their goal differential They're all plus 20 like they've all come by it's come by merit that they're in that mix And if you look no extended losing streaks if you look at their form over the last 10 They're all on six or seven wins over the last 10 games Vegas is a very good team. I think that goes without saying.

I watched Edmonton in LA last night in a barn burner, a one, nothing affair from Edmonton and it was almost, it had a, a playoff vibe to it because of how low scoring tight checking it was. And it was funny because in the aftermath, they were asking Leon Dreisaitl about the Kings. And he said, he's like, look, they're just a really good team. They're really hard to play against. They're really structured. They play to their style.

He didn't say it, but I will. They've got way better goaltending this year. Darcy Kemper's played above and beyond. I think what a lot of people expected. So I'm ready to put those three teams in the mix. And probably if I was to handicap it to the end of the season, I'd go Vegas, Edmonton and LA one, two, 3 in the division, which means the Canucks would then be playing for the wild card.

If it comes down to Vancouver and Calgary, I think it'll be a lot of fun down the stretch. I'm not exactly sure if you can expect Calgary to hang around. I'm not prepared to lose that race. No. That would be devastating. Calgary's right. Calgary.

Calgary right now is being propped up by Dustin Wolf, a wildly overachieving Jonathan Huberto. I know he's getting paid and I know that the production is now commensurate with the $10 million he's making a year. Oh, not even. But it still feels like he's overproducing from where he's at in his career. But they are, I mean, they're really just sort of, if you go through their lineup, like the bottom six forward group is real thin and the defensive group outside of Uygur and Anderson's pretty thin, but they're managing to get the job done.

They're punching above their weight. If the Canucks cannot beat out Calgary for that final wild card spot, that would be bad. I think they will. I think they will. I'm very interested to see how the Canucks move on from this juncture because two things have happened at the end of this road trip. One, they got that win in Toronto, and it was a pretty comprehensive victory on the heels of a not great performance in Carolina.

I think more importantly, is that they're getting all their guys back, and I listened to Rick Talkett and to Quinn Hughes speak to the media yesterday, and they both went out of their way to talk about how sound and how good the team has played defensively, especially over the last three games of this trip. They've only given up four goals over the last three games on this trip, and three of them came in regulation time.

The one other one was the Dubois winner against Washington. So if you want to look at going out on the road, playing against three pretty good opponents, playing against some high scoring teams as well, especially in the case of Washington and Toronto, they've done a remarkable job of like batting down the hatches and keeping things tight and not allowing goals. And Hughes mentioned the four goals against and Tauke mentioned it in their media availability.

Now you get the added boost of Hirona coming back and go look at the games on the horizon. We talked about this yesterday when the Canucks come home from this road trip. It's not like they got a couple of layup games on the horizon. Thursday night. It's going to be the Los Angeles Kings, the team they're chasing in the division. Then there's that big game on Saturday against Connor McDavid, Leon Dreisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers. So they have got a couple of really big tests, tests that are going to see and test, pardon the double use of test there,

the consistency of this team. Can they put forth the kind of effort and the kind of performance and the results that they got in Toronto on Saturday against another good opponent in Winnipeg, then another good opponent in the Los Angeles Kings, then another good opponent in the Edmonton Oilers. If they can do that, I really do wonder if the tide and the vibes of the season might turn around because they do need to find some consistency

and they need better performances against good opponents. It would be really nice if they could just rip off a winning streak and give themselves a little bit of cushion in the playoff race. They did have some playoff race cushion early on, but they used up all that with some of the injuries and inconsistent play. Jay texts in with an interesting question here. Has the Myers-Hughes pairing worked well enough in Hronik's absence that Alvein should look to acquire a higher-end left-hand defender to play with Hronik on a second pair. That would cost less than a right shot defender and should allow the team to

keep Lekker, Mackie and Willander. I still think if you're asking for a second pair left shot defender it's still going to be expensive, but forget the price. If it's cheaper, that might be the route to go anyway because of Carson's Susie struggles. You know, for me, it might be more important to get Susie off the second pair than Myers off the second pair. So like, I like what you're thinking here, Jay. It's a good question.

Um, but I do think the Canucks will probably, if I'm going to bet on this, have Hughes and Hronik together. So now they might change, they might change it in which case that, that would be a good thought to find someone to play with Hronik on a second pair and you have Hughes and Myers together. And then the third pair could be, it could be

Juleson on the right side and Derek Forebort on the left, assuming those guys can stay healthy, especially Forebort. Then you would have Juleson in your top six though. When you're six defensemen, I don't know how they feel about that. I don't know how you feel about that. But for me, if Hronik is back now, the guy I'm watching the closest, assuming Hronik is playing up to level.

First Hronik then. Is Carson Sousi. Yeah, because he has just been, he's struggling so much with the puck and frankly at times without the puck. On a blue line. He's really having a tough time. On a blue line that's had its fair share of problems this year, I think it's fair to say, and feel free

to counter Dunbar Numbers X-Line at 650, 650. I feel confident in saying that Carson Soucy has been the most problematic blue liner from game one to where we're at now game 42 or 43 of the season. And a lot of it has to do with the fact that he's really really struggled under pressure and then it feels like those struggles have translated over to when he's not under pressure to where you almost wonder if he has the yips. Also, he would have been a guy that you would have hoped could have stepped up in the absences the Canucks have had at times on the blue line this

year. If you look at that team and it's like we're gonna need more out of certain guys, Susie would have been one of them and he kind of did the inverse. He almost struggled when higher expectations, bigger TOI and more workload came upon him. It felt like he really kind of cratered a little bit. They heard any more. I don't think, it was funny, I was watching the Hughes media availability yesterday

and at the very end they asked him like, what was it like having Hronik back? And he got a big grin on his face and he's like, Hronik looked great. And then he sighed, he's like, he always looks great. So obviously he's going right back in playing with Hughes. I love him. Yeah.

Like Hughes has been waiting for this for six weeks. Like. Yeah. So that'll be that pairing. I understand what our Texler was saying about having Myers out there with Hughes and maybe trying to keep it together, but you got to remember, uh, Hughes is the captain and he's your best player. He probably has some clout, probably has some say about who he wants to play with.

And I got a feeling it'll be Hronik. Um, Sam Darnold, poor guy. He's lost a lot of money in the last little while, although I was looking at, uh, something on social media that was estimating his next contract and it was still like $160 million over four years. So I think he's still going to make some money,

but man, did he turn into a pumpkin against the Rams last night. Yeah, that was a, that was a tough scene for the Minnesota Vikings. Although a great scene for the Los Angeles Rams in a very trying week for the city of Los Angeles, dominant, dominant defensive performance from the Rams on Monday night.

They sacked Sam Darnold, an NFL record tying playoff bracket, nine times in a 27 to nine victory over the Minnesota Vikings in a game that, as we mentioned, was moved from Southern California to Arizona. It was a awful night for Sam Darnold. I know that the story should probably be about what the Rams did and how they moved on, but everybody, everybody was talking about a 14 win Minnesota Vikings team.

They got exposed over the last week of the regular season, losing in Detroit and then further exposed last night. And the number one exposee, I think that's a word expose, expose-erd, exposed Sam Dardle, the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. Just an awful performance. Well, JJ McCarthy was trending during the game.

Not surprisingly, he's the young quarterback. They drafted and then McCarthy got hurt, foisting the job upon Sam Darnold and Sam Darnold took the job and ran with it really. And played very well right up until the last week of the season. And then that last week didn't go very well. And then the playoff game didn't go very well.

Um, the Vikings have actually been, a lot of people have asked me, are the Vikings in the sad club? And I, and I've originally did not have them in the sad club because in 1969, they won the NFL championship. But here's where things get a little bit weird. They also lost the Super Bowl that year. What? Because there was four years, the first four Super Bowls,

they still had like an NFL championship. And then 1970 was the NFL merger. Got it. There was like a they signed a merger agreement I think four years before it actually happened. Okay, so I always said if you had an NFL championship You couldn't be in the sad club, right? Right? Yes, but that was that should have been So what happened was the AFL, when it was going, was still considered like the lesser league. The inferior.

The inferior league. It was like, you know, most people, and the first two Super Bowls, the NFL team, the teams that were in the NFL as opposed to the AFL, they dominated the Super Bowls. Right. And then what happened in Super Bowl III? The Jets, right?

The Jets. Yeah, yeah. Joe Namath and the Jets went in as huge underdogs. Shocked the world. And they shocked the world and they beat the Baltimore Colts. And all of a sudden, people were like, maybe this AFL isn't so bad after all. But still, in the fourth Super Bowl, I did some research last night.

Yeah, Good job. The Minnesota Vikings, they won the NFL championship and then they got the Kansas city chiefs in the Super Bowl. People still thought the NFL was so much better than the AFL. And so the Vikings were the heavy favorites in that Super Bowl.

They lost to the chiefs. They got smoked. Yeah. In fact, that was Hank Stram. Yeah. And they trickulate the ball down the field. And then the, and then the, the two leagues merged and we just went into the Super Bowl era.

Um, so that was the year that kept the Vikings out of the sad club, right? So I've actually made the decision after going back and looking at things and thinking about So I've actually made the decision after going back and looking at things and thinking about the Vikings, thinking about the four times they've lost in the Superbowl, thinking about that 1998 NFC title game where Gary Anderson, who never missed a kick,

missed a kick and they lose to the Atlanta Falcons in overtime when the other Anderson had a field goal, thought about last night and I think this is history here. I've never done this and especially on air. I am changing an earlier decision and the Minnesota Vikings are in the sad club now. This is a pretty big deal. They're pretty big deal for the Haliford and

Bruff show. Yeah. The rules of the sad club were like unflinching and very regimented and you're like, is this a sort of a, in a vacuum isolated decision? Like you're not, you're not changing the parameters. You're not setting a precedent. Well, I mean, I think-

But you are opening Pandora's box here, pal. I think a lot of things could end up in court now. Yeah. So, you know, this is maybe a controversial decision,. I think a lot of things could end up in court now. Yeah. So you know, this is maybe a controversial decision, but I think justice would be served because if there are any Vikings fans out there Maybe long-suffering Vikings fans Do you guys feel like you have ever won a championship? Like the Leafs Leafs fans will say yeah, we've won a Stanley Cup which keeps them out of the sad club. It does. Right. But but the Vikings fans, do they feel like 1969 was their championship or because

they lost that Super Bowl? Do they feel like they still haven't won a title? An immediate unsigned text from a Vikings fan into the Dunbar Lumbertex message in basket. I've watched all four Super Bowl losses. The Vikings definitely belong in the sad club early returns, but positive returns for this historic day in the sad club on the Halford and Bref show on sports net six 50, uh, continue to weigh in on this Dunbar. Lumber text line is six 50, six 50. We'll read your texts throughout the show. We'll do what we learned at eight 30 coming up on the other side though. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN is going to join us. Our NHL insider,

13 games across the NHL tonight. We'll take a look at all the news from around the league with Wish that's coming up next on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Oh, real quick, before we go to break, I need to tell you about Rogers Xfinity TV. If you're looking for your favorite culinary content, look no further. Food Network has all new seasons of your favorite food shows on channel 410. That's only on Rogers Xfinity TV. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance.

We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 6.33 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour one of this show is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, Greg Wyshinski joins us now on the Haliford and

Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Greg, how are you? I'm good. Can't complain. Watched some football last night. I think Sam Darnold's performance actually qualifies him better to be a Jets quarterback going forward. Uh, if, if they wanted to ever have a reunion, a reunion with the guy who used to see ghosts, uh, when they played the Patriots. So, you know, it was, it was a familiar, uh, it was like a warm blanket last night watching Sam hold onto the ball too long

and throw interceptions. Okay. That's what I should ask right now is the book was out obviously these last two weeks that if you dial up a lot of blitzes and just keep people coming Defenders coming at Sam Darnold He's gonna hold on to the ball too long because that's what Sam Darnold does was that the problem with him with it I honestly don't remember his time as a jet. I know he got drafted high I know it wasn't very good But was the knock always that he just held onto the ball way too long it took way too many hits He did yeah, I mean listen I know it wasn't very good, but was the knock always that he just held onto the ball way too long and took way too many hits?

He did. Yeah. I mean, listen, it wasn't, it wasn't like he was playing behind the nineties Cowboys offensive line. It's not like he, you know, he had a ton of time or anything, but like that was, that was always one of the knocks on him is that he don't hold on to the ball too long. Uh, he was indecisive in his decision making. Um, you know, he had an okay collection of talent around him, nothing on the level of Jefferson in his receiver core. You know, he had an okay collection of talent around him, nothing on the level of Jefferson in his receiver core. But yeah, that was always kind of a knock on. That's why it was just, it was funny.

Like I, there are definitely parts of this season where as a Jet fan, I'm just like, oh my God, if only they had Sam Darnold or Geno Smith back on the roster. And then, you know, Geno Smith's not in the playoffs and Sam Darnold, you know, turns into a public goo in the last three or four weeks of the season. So, you know, they are who they thought we were, I think is maybe at the end of the day,

or how you feel about all this. Speaking of the playoffs, let's turn our attention to the National Hockey League. We were looking at the playoff pictures we get in right on the midway point of the season. We were looking at the Western Conference playoff, Chase, I'm air quoting Chase right now. You've got this great battle in the East

where between the first wild card team, the Boston Bruins, and the second to last team in the conference, the New York Islanders, there's only six points separating them. So you've got about eight or nine teams all within five or six points to one another. What a great race for the wild card. Then you go to the West, not as exciting.

It's basically Calgary and Vancouver right now. Have you had time to parse through the Western Conference playoff picture? And if so, is there anyone else outside of this picture that you think might make a push or might make a challenge? Or are we bracing for a Canucks and Flames race down the stretch for the wild card. Well, as I mentioned before, I don't think it's in the Flames best interests to even be in this race, but they stubbornly refuse to fall out of it. Look, I think the eight that we have

is gonna be the eight that we have. I really do. There's always a chance that Utah could go on a little bit of a heater with the offense that they have, if Ingram comes back and plays well and they have two good goalies going at the same time. There's always a chance that they can go on a little bit of a run. There's always a chance that St. Louis could grind out enough points to maybe steal a wild card spot. And then if you look at the playoff odds look at the, the playoff odds, courtesy of places like statuettes, there's like, still a heartbeat with the Nashville Predators. I don't know

why they've given you no indication that they could string together the kind of streak they strung together last year, but their percentage to make the playoffs is significantly higher than a lot of the other teams, especially in the Eastern Conference for some reason. So I think the eight that we have is probably the eight that we end up with. And, you know, I tweeted out the playoff seedings yesterday and it's just extremely hilarious to me that, you know, the LA Kings do all this stuff. They fire the coach. They're playing great

hockey. They're feeling good about life. And then at the end of the day, they'll just play Edmonton again. You know, it's just like, it's, it's crowd hog day. It's a perpetual, it's like an episode of Black Mirror where it's just, you know, the same horror befalls on you every year. Because they're not beating that team. So I feel, I feel like maybe the Kings should lose more is maybe there's a solution here

and not have to play the Oilers in the first round. Wish for the record, the eight we have right now includes Calgary, because Calgary leapfrog the Canucks last night. Yeah, I know, by points. By points percent. No, no, no, by points. By points, they're both.

I'm not talking about Calgary. I'm talking about Vancouver. Okay. I'm obviously talking about Vancouver. Calgary is not going to make the playoffs. Just for the record. They don't deserve to make the playoffs and it's their best interest to not make the playoffs. They're going to look back on this season in about five years and be like,

why are we mediocre? And it's like, oh, because when you were supposed to be bad, you decided to, to be okay and, and feel good about life. They're, they're not going to make the playoffs. Thank you. We can make the playoffs. Appreciate that. Uh, so the, yesterday we had a little fun ripping the Seattle Kraken because our,

uh, reasoning for doing that was we weren't sure if anyone in Seattle was ripping the Kraken or even paying attention to the fact that this is a bad hockey team. There was a report over the weekend that their CEO, Elliott Friedman, reported that their CEO, Todd Laiwiki, met with them in Buffalo and they went into Buffalo and they fell behind and they

came back and beat the Sabres six to two. So that was good for the Kraken, but very next game they played was in Detroit and they were quickly down four nothing and then five nothing and they eventually lost by a lot to the Red Wings and we were just talking about the Kraken and just looking at the lineup and going, blah, like what is there?

The Chandler Stevenson contract has been a disaster. Um, and you know, there's not a lot of star power in Seattle. What have you thought about the first few years of the Seattle Kraken? Well, I mean, you know, there's, it's not all doom and gloom. I mean, in Seattle it usually is doom and gloom.

Now I think about it, but, uh, you Seattle, it usually is doom and gloom. Now I think about it, but, you know, they had some good things happen this year. I think they've seen enough out of Shane Wright, even though he's not really, you know, compiled as many points as maybe you think he has with all the good notices he got earlier to believe that he could turn into something. Obviously, Baniers is good, but not great. I think he's ultimately, I think his trajectory was always gonna be like the perfect second line center for a really good team. And he's kind of there right now.

Yeah, listen, you know, the problem with Seattle is that they had a taste of success and everyone assumed that they were gonna be on some sort of trajectory in the same way that Vegas was. Not necessarily like first year, but maybe you've gotten enough talent through the expansion draft process to challenge for something in the near future after having a little taste of the playoffs. But overall, the roster is just like a C plus roster and they added a few young players to show

promise of the majority of the players that they added from outside of the organization via free agency or trade have not been all that impactful. And then, you know, on top of that, like I was, I was never really enamored with the idea that Ron Francis was the GM of this team. I mean, the teams that Ron Francis built in Carolina were teams that, you know, looked good on paper, maybe had decent analytics, and ultimately underachieved and were always wanting that one piece that never seemed to arrive as far as like a star player. I think he's a guy who builds teams that are average. And when certain pieces aren't fitting correctly

for the Kraken like they aren't this year, then they're gonna be below average. Yeah, it's funny because when the news came out that Laiwiki was meeting the team on the road, a lot of people wondered if a change was gonna follow and a lot of people pointed to not the head coach, Dan Bosma, who of course just got hired this off season, but maybe the general manager, that maybe it's time to forge a new path for the Kraken.

It remains to be seen if that'll happen, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on. Kind of a question out of left field here, but I was just thinking about it. The Kraken have had their stumbles on the ice, but they're strong off the ice and the two expansion teams have been great. Now that they've sort of cleaned up the mess that is the Arizona Coyotes, is there a real problem franchise or a problem area for the National Hockey League right now? Or for the first time in a while, can Gary Benjamin and Bill Daley sit back and be like, Hey,

things are actually going to get a ring built in Ottawa. Yeah, I guess. That's the first one that popped to mind is they got to get a rank in Ottawa. Right. And then, but outside of that, it seems like it's actually pretty relatively healthy. Yeah. I mean, I think so. I don't, I think, I think the thing, you know, typically we look at things like attendance as a harbinger of doom for places. Right. And that could be, that could be, you know, an accurate measurement sometimes. I mean, but you know, the teams that aren't doing well in attendance are aren't doing well because they're terrible. I mean, but the teams that aren't doing well in attendance

aren't doing well because they're terrible. I mean, the Sabres, the Sharks, teams like that are amongst the ones that are under 90% capacity. I think the Jackets are too, but again, that's a team that is just starting to show that they might be able to achieve a playoff spot. But the real measure for me is ownership. And that's kind of where I think Bill and Gary can probably take some measure

of pride is the notion of everybody in the league right now has some pretty sturdy ownership, even some of the franchises that haven't in the past. And so it's, you know, you want your markets to be good. You want the building to be filled. You want the revenue faucets to be as open as wide as they can. But ultimately when teams move or relocate or in trouble, it's usually because it's a combination of losing money, lack of attendance, maybe some issue with the building,

and then ultimately a guy who doesn't want to own the team anymore. And I don't think they have really anybody in that category right now, which is kind of amazing. We're speaking to Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You mentioned the Columbus Blue Jackets in there. One of the more remarkable and quite frankly,

from our neck of the woods anyway, underappreciated and underreported stories is the Columbus Blue Jackets as of today hold the second and final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. They've done it largely on the strength that going into Columbus now is an extremely difficult place to play. One of the best home records in the NHL, not as good on the road, but I had a hard time finding out, like, outside of the fact that they've been pretty dominant at home, Greg, how have the Columbus Blue Jackets been able to do this? And how impressive has it been given all of the tragedy and all of the adversity that they faced

going right into this season with the tragic passing of Johnny Goudreau? Well, I'm glad you mentioned them, because I remember now I did want to circle back and push back on the notion that the Eastern Conference playoff race is good. It's a lot of teams that aren't really good, but they just happen to be within a few points

of each other. Right. It's good in the sense that it's close. Let's put it that way. The word you were looking for is competitive. It's competitive. And I mean that, you know, now you're getting a thing where like every week depending on who's had a good, a good few games, the whole complexion of the race changes. I mean, you know, I saw it on the grades that, that Ryan and Kristen did on

ESPN.com today, like mid season grades that the Rangers got an F. Well, Rangers are like within spit and distance of the wild card. Like they're probably going to be there four points out of the wild card, the Rangers. going to be there are four points out of the wild card the rangers yeah and i know it feels disastrous but like ultimately you know depending on the week all these teams that are either written off or you know are flaming dumpsters you know floating down the the flood the flooded road as in that famous gif uh like they're all kind of just okay and they're all kind of just okay. And they're all kind of just there. And so I think Columbus is one of them, but to answer your question,

to me the story of the story is Zach Warrensky. He is clearly along with Quinn and along with McCarr in the top three for the Norris. He's been there for most of the season in our awards watch. And you can just feel the amount of appreciation building for the season he's having. I think he's over a point per game as a defenseman. He plays a ton of minutes for them.

Really is showing exactly the kind of player he can be when he's healthy. And there's a lot of reasons for why the Jackets are doing what they're doing. I think the hiring of Dean Evison is one of them might be right place, right guy, right time, in so far as what they needed after dealing with that tragedy. But I mean, Rodchenko, Wurenski, the kids are playing well. Ken Johnson, when he's been in the lineup, has played well. Like, Fantilly, I think he's been okay. Like, they've had a lot of guys hitting their marks and a few punching about their weight. But to me, the biggest story for me is, is Wawrinski playing, you know, over 26 minutes a night and being an over point per game player. He's been incredible for them.

Do you think the Bruins are going to survive this rift? We've decided to completely ignore Brad Marshawn's media availability after the reported rift. And we're so tired of the rift in Vancouver that we're going to focus on the rift in Boston. I just think it's funny that Bruins management ginned up a rift between Marshawn and Pasternak.

So when they trade Pasternak for Pedersen, they'll have a reason to do so. Yeah. It's pretty, it's pretty genius if you think about it. It's smart. It's smart. It's forward thinking. I mean, I, I gear, putting on my

like reporter hat for a second and trying to figure out how something like this gets reported, I'm going to guess at some point there was probably a disagreement between Pasternak and Marchand. And then that became blown up into some sort of systemic problem between the two where Pasternak refuses to be in a line with whatever the hell the report was. Like, I'm sure there was probably a kernel of truth and there was probably a friction at some point on a team that's, you know, spiraling down the standings. And, and, you know, there was clear tension amongst the coach and the players earlier this season, like there's probably something there, but not to the point of, of there being there being a JT Miller,

Elias Pedersen-esque rift on the Boston Bruins. Did Marshawn Doth protest too much? Probably. It did feel a little bit like I don't think we needed a full carousel of photographs on Instagram to show that you and David Pastrnak are boys. But at the same time, I also think it was really probably overblown the friction between teammates. So this kind of thing probably happens every week within teams. And then, you know, if it leaks out of the locker room, like a gas leak,

then occasionally it gets blown up. But in this case, I don't think there's much there. Are the Bruins going to use this as a galvanizing moment for the team? I don't know. Can they, can they put the pressure of a teammate versus teammate rift into some sort of machine and create a center out of it? Can that rift score 30 goals? No, they're just not a well constructed hockey team.

And it's good to see finally, finally, you know, there being a little bit of, of, of examination and heat on Don Sweeney for the way that this team is built. Look, I think, I think like, like a lot of teams, the Bruins are, are constructed in a way that is very much speaking to contending now, but don't necessarily have the pieces to do so. I think the Rangers are in the same boat in some ways, as far as like, you squint hard enough and you're like, that should be a team that contends for a cup. And you take a step back and you're like, well, that team can't play five on five. Same thing with the

Bruins. I mean, the Bruins have a really stout blue line. They have a very good goaltender. They've got Marchand, they've got Pasternak,nak is one of the best goal scorers the last 20 years and then you know you take a step back and you're like oh but they've they've never come close to replacing Krytian Bergeron and in fact you know Lindholm I don't think has been anywhere close to the solution there so I don't know ultimately I think I told you guys before I think the entire season was built for them to make a run at Tri-Cytle. That's not going to happen.

Maybe they wait two years and make a run at Conor if and when he leaves Edmonton. By the way, that's a story that I think really should become at the forefront. We need to get more NBA in the NHL, don't you think? We really need to make the off the ice stuff more interesting and make the transactions really the thing that sells the league. Conor McDavid has not put pen to paper in Edmonton. No. The New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins are both gonna have the cab space and the need to sign him when he's a free agent. Let's put that out there in the world. Let's let that fester for a little bit. I mean I'm sure

the folks in Edmonton would love that. He's gonna go to Dry Sado and be like I know what I told you. I lied. Bye. Dude, I, I true. I just, listen, I, listen, I, I was one of those people that when Leon signed, I said, Oh, he obviously has some Intel that Connor's going to stay. Why else would he resign there? I don't inform speculation boys. I don't think that's necessarily true. There was an unspoken agreement.

Like they looked deep into each other's eyes. Wishes saying there wasn't. No, no, but they, no, there's necessarily true. There was an unspoken agreement like they looked deep into each other's eyes? No, there was. Wish is saying there wasn't. No, no, but they, no, there's nothing spoken. Honestly, they just looked in each other's eyes. Oh, run with this Wish. Inform speculation. McDavid's leaving? Look, go ahead. I know. I'm not saying McDavid is leaving. I would not go that far. Okay. But I just don't think that it's as cut and dry as Leon's sign because Connor's going to sign. So when McDavid leaves, where is he going to go? We have a lot of season, we have a lot of hockey to go before, before Connor McDavid has to make a decision on a contract.

Okay. So when, let me jump in. When Dry Settle signed, I remember thinking, I'm like, that feels strange to me, because all we heard was like San Jose and their German owner was ready to line up the brinkstruck for him to hit unrestricted free agency. And there was all these other teams that were ready to at the very least have some sort of courtship and try and convince Dry Sidal to go and then he didn't go anywhere. So they didn't even get involved places. And again, I went with the same line of thinking that you went with. It's like, well, they must've had a handshake agreement somewhere.

Now I know that this year, like, it's been great for Dreisaitl. He's on, I mean, he's in heart trophy consideration with the way that he's playing right now. There's probably gonna be a rift. Yeah, and then maybe, maybe the key to all this is to create a third rift in this one. This one's gonna be mentioned.

But yeah, I will, that's the one for me. When you bring up the NBA thing, like, if we're looking at second half of the season storylines, we should try and promote the fact that Connor McDavid hasn't signed in Edmonton yet. Listen, I don't think it's guaranteed that he stays, okay? And I also think that there's a ton of hockey yet to play between when he needs, between now

and when he needs to make a contract decision. And I don't think that that dry cycle signing guarantees that McDavid stays. These are the things that I believe now, you know, after Leon signed, I does that all add up to him leaving? I don't necessarily think it does. He's put roots down there, you know, him and Lauren have a beautiful house that we've all seen in magazines. You know, his stuff is there. Him and Leon could basically run that organization for the next, you know, eight, nine years that

they wanted to. I mean, it's, it's a great place to be if in fact you believe you can win there. And that is ultimately, I think, going to be the question for Connor, you know, is, is, is my, is my best, in my best position to win being next to dry side along this team at Edmonton or is my best position to win being next to dry side along this team at Edmonton or is my best position to win somewhere else? And I think winning is a very, very paramount thing. It's the thing that makes him an all, it's the thing that makes him,

I mean, he's already an all-timer in the sense of how he scores and how he plays. And I think that for most of us, we've never seen that combination of skill and skating before. Like he's an all-timer in that regard for a talent perspective But I think winning is really important to him like really important to him Wish I'm really glad we did this today

I didn't think that by 7 o'clock in the morning we'd have a Connor McDavid is leaving Edmonton story percolating But I'm gonna make that the video here. We. Wish says, McDavid leaving Edmonton. Don't forget the import speculation part. This is, I was, you know, guys, I had the same thought, which is that we're in a weird place right now with the league. Like we're, it's between, you know, the first of the year and four nations and there's 105 teams that are within three points to each other in the East. And I picked up the phone, I'm like, what the hell are we going to talk about today?

Are we going to talk about JT Miller for the 800th time on the show? And then I said to myself, you know what? I have faith because we've done this for so long that we'll get there. And you know what? We got there. Didn't we boys?

We got there. The biggest star of the league escaping Edmonton. We did it together. I didn't say he's going to leave. Don't the NHL watcher on Twitter, if you take a break from transcribing everything Elliott says, I didn't say he's going to leave. OK, I'm just saying that I am not

convinced that Leon signing is a harbinger that Connor is 100% staying. Wish, you're the best, buddy. We appreciate this this as always. Enjoy the rest of the week and whatever you have to deal with from NHL watcher. We'll do this again next Tuesday. Take care of us.

See you buddy. Greg Wyshinski from ESPN here on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. I'm very intrigued by this now. Yeah. I got some time for this. Ray Ferraro is going to join us next on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650.

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